Everybody Has A Secret
by Atlantima
Summary: Set after the HDM books and right after the original FMA anime. Lyra and Will meet up with Ed on their travels. Can they learn to trust each other?
1. Chapter 1

NOTE: This story takes place after The Amber Spyglass, and right after the end of the first FMA anime. So... there's spoilers. Also, I don't own this shiz. Also also, could anybody confirm whether alchemy/alchemists are ever mentioned in HDM?

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Ed had only been in this new, alchemy-less world for a couple of days. He was kind of exploring around, climbing on the rooftops out of boredom. He happened to glance down and see two people, a boy and a girl, emerge out of nowhere. Wait, not out of nowhere, there's some sort of portal that they came through! "Ohh! A portal! I better check this out!" So Edward made his way down to the alley.

But by the time he got there the portal and the two people were gone. "The portal's gone! What, no! It can't be gone! Maybe I can reactivate it…" So he starts in with the clapping and trying to transmute the portal back into existence. Because this world was so new to him, he often forgot he couldn't do alchemy here.

Lyra and Will were rounding a corner when they heard some sort of sound. "What's that? Are they still following us?" "No, that's not footsteps…" They were curious enough about the noise to follow it to its source. They eventually found themselves back at the entrance to the alley. There they saw a young man (he looked about the same age as them) with braided blonde hair, acting very strangely. He seemed to be frantically trying to do something… but what?

Ed tried all sorts of things in his repeated attempts to access the portal. He was midway through drawing a transmutation circle on the alley wall with mud, when he realized he was being watched. He spun around and saw … the same two people that he had witnessed emerging from the portal less than five minutes ago! They stared at him intently.

"What in the world are you doing?" the boy asked him.

"Oh, this?" Edward tried to think of a plausible explanation for the transmutation circle. "It's, uh, graffiti! I'm a graffiti artist."

"That en't like any art I ever seen," the girl said.

"Well," said Ed, "it's really more of a science than an art."

"So," said the boy, "you're a graffiti scientist, then?""

Before he could respond to this, the girl said, "Ohh! You're a scientist? That means you must have gone to university then!"

"Actually, no." He smiled. "Never been to school a day in my life."

"Well, lucky you!" the boy said, jealously.

Edward briefly considered all the tragedy in his life. "Yes, yes..." He sighed "...Lucky me."

"Look, I'm tired of this!" Will was irritated now. "Who the hell are you?"

"Who am I? Who am I?" Ed stood up tall (well, as tall as he could) and proclaimed, "I'm Edward Elric, and I'm the F-"

He stopped suddenly. _Oh, yeah. I keep forgetting where I am._

There was an awkward pause.

"En't you going to finish your sentence, Edward?" the girl asked. "You're the... what?"

Think fast... "I'm the fff... friendliest guy in town!" He adopted an attitude of faked enthusiasm. "You guys sure are lucky you ran into me! Say, what're your names?"

"I'm Lizzie."

"Lizzie, huh? It's great to meet you, Lizzie!" Ed shook her hand vigorously. "And who's your pal here?"

"I'm Mark."

Edward needed information about that portal. _I'll start with subtle hints._ "I'm guessing you two are new in town! You probably just got here, too!" The looks on their faces confirmed it. "Well, I'd give you a tour, show you around, but I've actually only been here a couple of days myself."

"You could show us where you live?"

"Well, it is getting dark... Let's go!"

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"Well, this is the place!" They were at Ed's house. A light went on and a window opened on the second floor. A young man leant out the window.

"Is that you, Ed?" he shouted.

"Of course it's me, Al!" Edward yelled. "Who else would it be?"

"Where have you been? Don't you realize how late it is?"

"Shut up, I'm coming in." Ed said.

"Who's that?" Lyra asked as they entered the house. "Your brother or something?"

"Or something, yeah." There was a weird, kind of sad tone in Edward's reply, and Lyra wondered if maybe she shouldn't have asked.

TO BE CONTINUED...MAYBE?


	2. Chapter 2

"So, this is where I live," Edward said. "Um, for now."

"For now?" Will said. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, like I said before, I'm only visiting here... I might or might not go back to where I had been living before..." He trailed off, thinking of all his friends in Amestris. He wondered if they missed him.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice Alfons coming down the stairs. "Hey, Edward, who're you're friends? Hello? Earth to Edward..."

"Uh, what?" He snapped out of it. "Oh, this is Lizzie, and Mark."

"Nice to meet you." They shook hands.

"I haven't seen you two around town before. Did you just move here or something?" Alfons asked them.

"Or something, yeah." Lyra answered. Edward could tell that she was not being entirely truthful. _She looks so innocent and naive, but she's definately hiding something,_ he thought.

"Yeah, we just got here today, actually, " said Will. "Do you know a place we could stay, like an inn or something?"

"You can stay here if you like," said a deep voice.

Edward spun around. It was his father. Hoenheim had been observing them from the top of the stairs. Edward still wasn't quite used to having that man around. He really wasn't used to anything in this world yet, but this was one of the harder things to adjust to.

"Really? We can stay here?" Lyra said. She was looking forward to getting to know these people better.

"Yes, you may. It's far too late to be out looking for a room in an inn right now, anyway." He looked at Ed. "Isn't it your turn to make dinner, Edward?"

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After dinner, Ed folded out the couch for "Lizzie" and "Mark". "I hope you guys will be all right sleeping on the couch," he said. "We don't really have any extra beds."

"It'll be fine," Will said. In fact, a couch was far better than the ground, where they had been sleeping the past several nights. Sometimes they didn't get any sleep at all.

As he lay in bed, Edward thought about the day's events. Had he really seen a portal? Perhaps it was just his imagination. But then where had Lizzie and Mark come from? He had searched that alley, there were no doors. It was a dead end. Then there must have been a portal! He decided he would question them about it tomorrow.

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Lyra awoke in the middle of the night, and retrieved the alethiometer from her bag by the side of the couch. She wanted to know more about this Edward Elric, so she asked about him. The answer came: "You will learn from him on your journey." Lyra thought that was a little vague, but at least it didn't say he was dangerous or anything. She went back to sleep.


End file.
